December 4, 2025 • 26 mins
(December 04, 2025)
Insurers promise to ease authorization burden after UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder… Here’s what happened. How to claim ‘Trump Accounts’ for kids after $6BIL contribution. Ultra-Orthodox Conscription bill threatens crisis for Israel’s government. Even affluent American’s don’t feel wealthy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listenings KFI AM six forty the bill Handles show
on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six forty
bill handle here on a Thursday morning, December fourth, as
Amy said, twenty one days until Christmas, which is a
big holiday for a lot of people, not for me particularly. Well,
(00:23):
hanuk isn't a big deal for me either, nor is
insert name of any other holiday other than not coming
to work. That's a holiday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Did you and your family used to go to like
a Chinese restaurant on Christmas?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, no, not really, not really.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What do you do on Christmas morning?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Oh you don't go What do you do?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You don't have a Christmas tree, you don't give presents,
that's what you know? What is it? A few years
ago I bought my daughters, each of them a car,
and I said, this will do it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
For both Christmas or Hanukkah holidays and your birthday. And
ever since then, Hey dad, what am I going to
get for my birthday? Go out in the driveway. That's
what you're getting for your birthday.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
That is eight years ago, and I am still saying
go out in the driveway. After that first initial hit,
which was expensive. It's been very cheap after that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Amortized over the period of the last eight years. It's a
good deal.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Now moving on, Moving on, The killing of the United
Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangoni, really blew
open the entire issue of how healthcare and insurance companies
are dealing with Americans read us. And because Mangoni said
(01:55):
in his testament in his manifesto that this had to
do with the insurance companies were treating Americans. So the
killing and the public outcry that happened after that has
led insurance to pledge to simplify and streamline prior insurance
or prior authorization practices.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Now, that is a big one, and that is before.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You are allowed to or a provider will provide services.
Normally a phone call goes to the insurance company, will
you authorize this procedure when it comes to medical questions
on Saturday morning handle on the law.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I get more of these than anything else, and.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That is I couldn't get the provider to the insurance
company to okay this, or they did okay it over
the phone and they bounced it back.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And it has gotten to be a mess.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And the problem is who decides prior authorization?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Is it in real time? Is it later?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Now, if you're in an emergency room and they have
to crack your chest because a bullet's on through your heart, okay,
you don't need prior authorization. But if you need medical care,
if you need a device, you need an appointment that
isn't life threatening, you know what, You've got to get
prior authorization. And it can take a while, and it
can bounce back, and that's the problem. And then you're
(03:19):
screaming and arguing with the medical provider. You're actually screaming
and arguing with the insurance company because they didn't cover
what you thought they should cover. They didn't cover what
they should cover, not just what you thought what they
should in the first place. And they're trying to and
now there are negotiations, and the Trump administration has actually
(03:39):
done a pretty good job of moving forward and making
the insurance companies well, making the authorization process more streamlined,
certainly real time if possible, and making sure that more
things or more medical procedures are covered.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
In insurance. Is just a god awful mess. The way.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
No one doesn't believe that our insurance system is broken.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
No one.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I don't think of any person I have met that says, oh,
our medical process in this country, our medical care is
just fine.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
We don't want to screw it up. Well, it isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
And then I go back to the story of Lindsay
and I were in we were in Sicily, we were
in Palermo a few months ago, and she had a
breathing problem and she suffers occasionally from this asthmatic thing
that she has, and she had a really rough time.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
We're in the hotel in Palermo.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Palermo is not the greatest place in the world, and
she had a real issue going on with breathing. Jumped
in the cab and went to the emergency room. This
old building that was just a paint was peeling, etc.
There were cops there, because every emergency room, and I
think in Italy has a cop or in any major city.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
She went in any know how long.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The wait it was in the waiting room, thirty seconds,
and she went in and saw a doctor instantly who
instantly put a nebulizer, one of those breathing devices, and
ran an IV That was in the first five minutes.
Then she had to they had to wait for the
blood results to come back and find out if she
(05:22):
was okay or not.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
She was basically okay.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The nebulizer turned out to have done its job, and
then that was twenty minutes, by the way, and then
the doctor said, but I want you to see an
e NT specialist air nose and throat to see what's.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Going on, and that would be where here.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You'd have to call the insurance company and get a
pre authorization. There we figured, okay, we have to go
to another office and they said no, no, go right upstairs.
Walked up one flight of stairs. There was the NT department,
There was a doctor. It turned out everything was okay,
gave a prescription. We were in and out of it
in just over an hour. Just over an hour, all
(06:06):
of that. And when I try to pay, they said,
you can't. This is National Health. If we wanted to
accept your money, we couldn't. We don't have a mechanism
for even accepting your money. Compare that to we go
into the er and unless you're having a heart attack
(06:29):
or dying now you've stopped breathing completely. You're sitting there
for five hours and waiting, and then you see a
doctor and then if you need a half emergency, you
then have to go to another doctor, and you're waiting
or you're waiting for a bed upstairs, which can be twelve, fifteen, eighteen,
twenty four hours. You're sitting in the emergency room. But
(06:51):
our system isn't broken at all. So the issue here
is pre authorization. And even the insurance companies are saying, yeah,
system isn't so good. So we're looking at it and
things are moving and the Trump administration is moving forward
with this. Now they're getting a lot of flack, and
the administration all gets always gets flacked no matter what
(07:12):
the administration does, no matter what side of the aisle
it comes from, and that nothing is really changed if
you look at what happened a year ago to today
to what's going to kick in on January first. That's
what's going to kick in on January first of twenty
twenty seven. Different aspects of this plan are going to
come through. The detractors are saying, hey, nothing has changed. Well,
(07:37):
I think it is a start. Any start works as
far as I'm concerned. Now, let me tell you what's
going on within the Trump administration, and this is kind
of a good thing. As matter of fact, it is
a good thing. And I'll explain a little bit. It's David.
The government is established something called the Trump account.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
How unusual.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It is akin to the five twenty nine plan, and
that is an investment plan for kids college which by
the way, there is now a move the five twenty
nine planned.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
The number is going to go from five.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Twenty nine to forty three dash forty five or is
that forty five dash forty seven? Okay, you just got it. Okay, excellent,
there's cono. Just pick that up, all right. So here
is what it's about. All kids born between twenty five
and twenty eight, twenty five and twenty twenty eight are
(08:38):
going to get a gift from Congress and the President
because he instituted this one thousand dollars deposit into a
Trump account that's on behalf of the kids. It's one
thousand dollars from the government for each child and that
will go into an account. It's seed money to encourage
kids and their families to save and build wealth because well,
(09:00):
growing up is wealthy.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Effectively, it's an IRA for kids.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And the Trump accounts are part of the big beautiful
bill that the President signed. This summer, and it's among
other tax advantage saving plans that help Americans navigate the
cost of education and healthcare retirement. What's unusual here is
it starts at birth with a deposit of one thousand
(09:26):
dollars from the government into the kid's name. Now that's
kind of neat, and what it's meant to do is
kickstart a savings plan for parents to put in money
every year and at some point there's enough money there
where at least the college education student is paid for.
Now it is argued that it's not all that great
(09:50):
because the tax advantages aren't all that great. A five
to twenty nine plan, for example, a college plan is
it goes in with after tax dollars granted, so you're
not getting any benefit there. But as the money accumulates,
the money is taken out for a kid's education secondary education,
it is not taxed. The income is not taxed where
(10:15):
this account is taxed across the board. So what effect
effectively it is is simply a bank account. But as
people say, it is better than nothing by a long shot.
It's one thousand dollars that the government is giving a
kid with the hopes and I think that really does
(10:36):
help parents because if there's already one thousand dollars in it,
all right, now we have a start, and the five
twenty nine plans do not do this. Parents have to
start it on their own, which is exactly what I
did the day my children were born.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Actually, I started that plan.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
And now I have enough money in that plan and
well to pay for an AA degree at a community college.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And that's it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And that's where it's ten dollars a unit and it
costs a total of twelve hundred dollars to go through
community college. So I've got a couple of dollars thereafter.
But I can't take it out. Why because it's ordinary
income to me plus ten percent penalty. So that's a
chunk of money. So those are some of the restrictions
that apply with a five to twenty nine plan. And
(11:30):
you've got financial people that are saying, you know, it's
not all that good.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know what, it may not be quote all that good.
It's one thousand dollars, the government is getting a kid.
How do you argue that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And even if it doesn't kickstart everybody, let's say it
kickstarts a percentage a small percentage, it's still a small percentage.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Who otherwise would not do this?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
On top of that, Michael Dell, who is I don't know,
the fourth fifth wealthiest man in the world at this point,
Dell Computers. He and his wife just donated six billion
dollars towards that fund. I mean, that's no small amount
of money. So this is one of those things where
(12:15):
you know, would I have done it that way?
Speaker 3 (12:17):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Would I have thrown some tax advantages like five twenty
nine plans? Yeah, I probably would do that, But that's me,
And you know, do you Does anybody listen to me? No?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Would anybody follow my advice? No? Because what would I do?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I would give you no tax advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If the government put in one thousand dollars, I would
take it away and spend it on something else.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
But this ain't bad.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
By the way, No one can contribute to the account
until July of twenty twenty six. Parents and others can
contribute up to five thousand dollars a year into the
account until the child turns eighteen, so.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
There is a limit. Where there is not a limit
to the five to twenty nine plan.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I believe an employer can contribute up to twenty five
hundred dollars towards that twenty five five thousand dollars cap.
You know, we don't know where it's going to go,
We don't know how successful it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
We don't know if it makes any sense or not.
But I'll tell you what we do know. It's one thousand.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dollars that the kids are going to have that they
don't have now.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And how do you argue with that? You don't?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Now, let me tell you about what's going on in Israel.
Wanted to share this with you because, well, first of all,
you know, obviously I'm biased, and I am my wheelhouse,
and I have friends who are in Israel, both having
served in the service, will actually all of them serve
in the service, because it's a mandatory for Israeli men,
(13:52):
it's mandatory for everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There is conscription across the board.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Every man and woman in Israel is mandated to go
into the armed forces when they're eighteen years old. Three
years for men, two years for women except the ultra
Orthodox men the hot idea and by law they don't
(14:19):
have to go into the military service. But wait a minute,
why does everybody else go in and because you're religious,
you can't be drafted, that's right. This exemption was created
for the ultra Orthodox students and ultra Orthodox men in
(14:41):
nineteen forty eight when the state of Israel was declared
a few hundred we're part of the Orthodox families, if
you will, just a few hundred. Today it's fourteen percent
of Israel and it's growing like crazy. And why is
that well, because non Orthodox Jews in Israel have the
(15:05):
same problem with any other industrialized country where the population
is declining. The demographics are declining, except in places where
you have fundamentalists in certain name of any religious here,
any religion here, where the concept of go forth and
multiply they take very seriously. If you look at any
(15:25):
any Jewish religion. Part of it is they stoopfest that
you go. You get late as often as you can,
you get pregnant as often as you can, and you
have kids. So the ultra Orthodox, while the rest of Israel,
it's like much of the rest of the industrialized world,
two kids, one point five, one point eight and population
(15:47):
is actually declining, the ultra Orthodox are having five kids,
seven kids, as many kids as they humanly can have,
and that creates obviously a bigger ultra or Orthodox population.
And here is the part that is really pissing off
Israelis and more and more is the ultra Orthodox Jews
(16:09):
argue that for them, sitting and praying and studying Torah
all day long is as important in defending Israel as
the soldiers are. In other words, they tell the soldiers,
you go to war, you man the tanks, you're an
artillery artillery, and we're.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Going to pray and not going in the army.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And that's as important as anything you do, because if
you don't have us, we don't have an army. There is,
though Israel that exists. Well, there's been this war going
on for a while. There's been several wars, the six
sixty seven war, the seventy three war, a couple of
incursions where Israelis have died and in numbers. And that
(16:54):
argument is not flying. You know twenty years ago where
the Supreme Court of Israel said you the exemption is
no longer valid, and there's been exception after exception. Why
are they so powerful Because the political parties in Israel,
and there are many, they in order for a government
(17:15):
to actually be established, a prime minister or a putative
prime minister has to cobble together these various parties, and
it always takes two or three parties, and sometimes are
left wing with the.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Right wing, and this small.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Group of these religious us, the ultra orthodox, they are
a single party. There are enough of them who vote
that they have huge power because they don't care about
anything other than their religious position.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That's all they care about.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And if that's all you care about, guess what they say, Okay,
if you want our vote, this is what you have
to do.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And they get what what.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
They mandate, and they get a government that says, okay,
you don't have to be in the army. We're going
to exempt you if you're a full time student. And
by the way, they're not studying mathematics, they're not scientists,
they're not studying anything that actually, in my opinion, helps society.
(18:21):
They're sitting and and they're what they're doing. They're studying
the Tumud, they're studying the Five Books of Moses, They're
studying the Old Testament is what they're studying. And they
spend hours and hours and hours every day and they
actually argue the finest points of what the tour is,
(18:41):
what the Bible is about that to them is as
important as the Israeli Army defending Israel their position without us,
there is no Israel without us. The army cannot succeed
because we are as in play. And let me tell
you there's some pissed off people.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
On that one.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
How angry would you be if we add a conscription
which we used to until the Nixon years, and if
you just declared I'm religious and my religion should be exempted,
not conscientious objector, which was a different issue, but just
you exempt an entire religion.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, it's a tough way to go.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It is even to the point now where there is
conscription and you've got the police going after people who
are draft dodgers, the protests explode. And if you think
we have protests, if you think our protests, for example,
the Black Lives Matter protests or the Me Too movement
and all those protests nothing compared to what is going
(19:47):
on in Israel. So I just wanted to share that
with you. And they also dress weird too, just to
let you know. And they have, you know, the payis
the ringlets and everybody has a beard, I mean everybody,
the women, the kids, you know, the five year olds
walking around with beards and you just you can see them.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
You know, they're very easy to quite. The site. It
really is women, the children.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, everybody, yes, yes, everybody, everybody, all right.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Study just came out.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
This is a twenty twenty five Planning in Progress study
that was updated in November, and it draws on a
Harris pol And. Bottom line is thirty six percent of
American millionaires consider themselves wealthy. A third of people who
are millionaires consider themselves wealthy.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Even the wealthiest Americans worry about money.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
According to the study, they fret about having enough, deciding
how to spend it, whether to pass it on to airs.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
How much money does it really take to feel wealthy?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Well, I'll tell you my definition of wealth, and I
think it's a pretty good one.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
When are you wealthy?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
You are wealthy when you can literally stop working today,
wake up tomorrow morning and live the same lifestyle that
you have always lived, live the same lifestyle. I don't
care if it's thirty thousand dollars a year, three hundred
thousand dollars a year, That to me is wealthy and
I feel rich. And you don't want to know why
(21:20):
I feel rich because I only hang around No, it's
because I hang around poor people, and that will make
anybody feel rich.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My immediate group is poor. That really helps me feeling rich.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Do you know why I feel great integrity and kindness
because I only hang around jerks.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
There you go, it does with kindness. Yes, I mean
that that does work.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And so a million dollars right, Although a million dollars
net worth means nothing in southern California, especially when you
have a nine hundred thousand dollars house, I mean, it's insane.
In West Virginia. Million dollars is money. In Kansas, that's money.
Los Angeles, New York, it's not money. And the other
thing is millionaires who hang out with other millionaires. You
(22:14):
compare because there's always someone that has more money than you,
unless you're bezos, bezos or your musk. The bottom line
is there's always someone has more money than you, and
therefore you compare, and therefore you're not as wealthy. The
liz Win Ditch to certified financial planner in denvers that
(22:34):
all of my clients who are millionaires don't consider themselves wealthy.
Not buy a long shot, And that's actually true. I
think you know.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Am I worth north of a million dollars? I am.
Do I consider myself rich?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I do not. I do not, And I think a
lot of other people who have money packed away, stocked away,
especially if you're looking at retirement funds, which I started
really pumping into them when I was in my mid thirties,
I don't. I literally don't feel rich. And that's not
just a joke either. I mean there, I don't know
where that number is to feel rich. Well, let me
(23:12):
ask right now, Neil, where is that number that you
are worth that makes you feel rich?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I like your definition. I think your definition is spot on.
When you feel you can keep you know, the lifestyle
you enjoy. I don't need to own a plane. I
don't need to. We live a very modest life. But
if I could can, if I could do this and
not work every day in the same way, yeah, I
would feel.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Like you're rich. Amy, was it? What does it take
for you to feel rich? He who has friends is rich?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Oh? Stop, but I'm going to vomit. That's vomitous. Okay,
you're off the table. Will let me throw it at you.
I know he's looking at Will. What does it take
you to feel rich. Lots of traffic, lots of traffic jams.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, okay. How much money do you have to have
in the bank in order to feel rich? To feel rich,
I will feel rich.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah. If I had one hundred grand in the bank,
I would feel rich.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Very well said, that's a very good note to prove
positive you work at iHeart and I can't see an
on the minor because we're having some zoom problems, and
yes they're okay.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
How much money do you need the bank to feel rich?
In your opinion, I would say the same thing like
being able to pay all my bills okay, comfortably, okay,
travel Okay, then you feel rich. That's fair. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I think that everybody feels the same way. Kono, Well,
you'll never feel rich. How much money does it take
for you to feel.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Rich when you don't have to look at your bank
account When you say okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Okay, that's fair, that's a great that's when you're not
looking at budgeting, you're not looking at bank accounts. And
the more modestly you live, obviously, the easier it is,
because what ends up happening. People make a pile of
money all of a sudden starts spending like they make
a pile of money. And if that ends or that
(25:10):
doesn't keep on going all of a sudden, Yeah, and
most of us, most of us are going to have
to change our lifestyles when we retire. It's really hard
to reach what Neil and I have said, and what
Ab has said, and even what Kono has said, and
that is continuing on with our lifestyle as if we're
(25:31):
making the same amount of money and that takes a
pile of money to have in the bank too.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I thought it was a really neat poll and it
says a lot about Americans and how we feel about money.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
All right, KFI am sixty. You've been listening to the
Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listenings KFI AM six forty the bill Handles show
on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six forty
bill handle here on a Thursday morning, December fourth, as
Amy said, twenty one days until Christmas, which is a
big holiday for a lot of people, not for me particularly. Well,
(00:23):
hanuk isn't a big deal for me either, nor is
insert name of any other holiday other than not coming
to work. That's a holiday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Did you and your family used to go to like
a Chinese restaurant on Christmas?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, no, not really, not really.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What do you do on Christmas morning?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Oh you don't go What do you do?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You don't have a Christmas tree, you don't give presents,
that's what you know? What is it? A few years
ago I bought my daughters, each of them a car,
and I said, this will do it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
For both Christmas or Hanukkah holidays and your birthday. And
ever since then, Hey dad, what am I going to
get for my birthday? Go out in the driveway. That's
what you're getting for your birthday.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
That is eight years ago, and I am still saying
go out in the driveway. After that first initial hit,
which was expensive. It's been very cheap after that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Amortized over the period of the last eight years. It's a
good deal.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Now moving on, Moving on, The killing of the United
Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangoni, really blew
open the entire issue of how healthcare and insurance companies
are dealing with Americans read us. And because Mangoni said
(01:55):
in his testament in his manifesto that this had to
do with the insurance companies were treating Americans. So the
killing and the public outcry that happened after that has
led insurance to pledge to simplify and streamline prior insurance
or prior authorization practices.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Now, that is a big one, and that is before.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You are allowed to or a provider will provide services.
Normally a phone call goes to the insurance company, will
you authorize this procedure when it comes to medical questions
on Saturday morning handle on the law.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I get more of these than anything else, and.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That is I couldn't get the provider to the insurance
company to okay this, or they did okay it over
the phone and they bounced it back.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And it has gotten to be a mess.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And the problem is who decides prior authorization?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Is it in real time? Is it later?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Now, if you're in an emergency room and they have
to crack your chest because a bullet's on through your heart, okay,
you don't need prior authorization. But if you need medical care,
if you need a device, you need an appointment that
isn't life threatening, you know what, You've got to get
prior authorization. And it can take a while, and it
can bounce back, and that's the problem. And then you're
(03:19):
screaming and arguing with the medical provider. You're actually screaming
and arguing with the insurance company because they didn't cover
what you thought they should cover. They didn't cover what
they should cover, not just what you thought what they
should in the first place. And they're trying to and
now there are negotiations, and the Trump administration has actually
(03:39):
done a pretty good job of moving forward and making
the insurance companies well, making the authorization process more streamlined,
certainly real time if possible, and making sure that more
things or more medical procedures are covered.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
In insurance. Is just a god awful mess. The way.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
No one doesn't believe that our insurance system is broken.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
No one.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I don't think of any person I have met that says, oh,
our medical process in this country, our medical care is
just fine.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
We don't want to screw it up. Well, it isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
And then I go back to the story of Lindsay
and I were in we were in Sicily, we were
in Palermo a few months ago, and she had a
breathing problem and she suffers occasionally from this asthmatic thing
that she has, and she had a really rough time.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
We're in the hotel in Palermo.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Palermo is not the greatest place in the world, and
she had a real issue going on with breathing. Jumped
in the cab and went to the emergency room. This
old building that was just a paint was peeling, etc.
There were cops there, because every emergency room, and I
think in Italy has a cop or in any major city.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
She went in any know how long.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The wait it was in the waiting room, thirty seconds,
and she went in and saw a doctor instantly who
instantly put a nebulizer, one of those breathing devices, and
ran an IV That was in the first five minutes.
Then she had to they had to wait for the
blood results to come back and find out if she
(05:22):
was okay or not.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
She was basically okay.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The nebulizer turned out to have done its job, and
then that was twenty minutes, by the way, and then
the doctor said, but I want you to see an
e NT specialist air nose and throat to see what's.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Going on, and that would be where here.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You'd have to call the insurance company and get a
pre authorization. There we figured, okay, we have to go
to another office and they said no, no, go right upstairs.
Walked up one flight of stairs. There was the NT department,
There was a doctor. It turned out everything was okay,
gave a prescription. We were in and out of it
in just over an hour. Just over an hour, all
(06:06):
of that. And when I try to pay, they said,
you can't. This is National Health. If we wanted to
accept your money, we couldn't. We don't have a mechanism
for even accepting your money. Compare that to we go
into the er and unless you're having a heart attack
(06:29):
or dying now you've stopped breathing completely. You're sitting there
for five hours and waiting, and then you see a
doctor and then if you need a half emergency, you
then have to go to another doctor, and you're waiting
or you're waiting for a bed upstairs, which can be twelve, fifteen, eighteen,
twenty four hours. You're sitting in the emergency room. But
(06:51):
our system isn't broken at all. So the issue here
is pre authorization. And even the insurance companies are saying, yeah,
system isn't so good. So we're looking at it and
things are moving and the Trump administration is moving forward
with this. Now they're getting a lot of flack, and
the administration all gets always gets flacked no matter what
(07:12):
the administration does, no matter what side of the aisle
it comes from, and that nothing is really changed if
you look at what happened a year ago to today
to what's going to kick in on January first. That's
what's going to kick in on January first of twenty
twenty seven. Different aspects of this plan are going to
come through. The detractors are saying, hey, nothing has changed. Well,
(07:37):
I think it is a start. Any start works as
far as I'm concerned. Now, let me tell you what's
going on within the Trump administration, and this is kind
of a good thing. As matter of fact, it is
a good thing. And I'll explain a little bit. It's David.
The government is established something called the Trump account.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
How unusual.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It is akin to the five twenty nine plan, and
that is an investment plan for kids college which by
the way, there is now a move the five twenty
nine planned.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
The number is going to go from five.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Twenty nine to forty three dash forty five or is
that forty five dash forty seven? Okay, you just got it. Okay, excellent,
there's cono. Just pick that up, all right. So here
is what it's about. All kids born between twenty five
and twenty eight, twenty five and twenty twenty eight are
(08:38):
going to get a gift from Congress and the President
because he instituted this one thousand dollars deposit into a
Trump account that's on behalf of the kids. It's one
thousand dollars from the government for each child and that
will go into an account. It's seed money to encourage
kids and their families to save and build wealth because well,
(09:00):
growing up is wealthy.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Effectively, it's an IRA for kids.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And the Trump accounts are part of the big beautiful
bill that the President signed. This summer, and it's among
other tax advantage saving plans that help Americans navigate the
cost of education and healthcare retirement. What's unusual here is
it starts at birth with a deposit of one thousand
(09:26):
dollars from the government into the kid's name. Now that's
kind of neat, and what it's meant to do is
kickstart a savings plan for parents to put in money
every year and at some point there's enough money there
where at least the college education student is paid for.
Now it is argued that it's not all that great
(09:50):
because the tax advantages aren't all that great. A five
to twenty nine plan, for example, a college plan is
it goes in with after tax dollars granted, so you're
not getting any benefit there. But as the money accumulates,
the money is taken out for a kid's education secondary education,
it is not taxed. The income is not taxed where
(10:15):
this account is taxed across the board. So what effect
effectively it is is simply a bank account. But as
people say, it is better than nothing by a long shot.
It's one thousand dollars that the government is giving a
kid with the hopes and I think that really does
(10:36):
help parents because if there's already one thousand dollars in it,
all right, now we have a start, and the five
twenty nine plans do not do this. Parents have to
start it on their own, which is exactly what I
did the day my children were born.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Actually, I started that plan.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
And now I have enough money in that plan and
well to pay for an AA degree at a community college.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
And that's it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And that's where it's ten dollars a unit and it
costs a total of twelve hundred dollars to go through
community college. So I've got a couple of dollars thereafter.
But I can't take it out. Why because it's ordinary
income to me plus ten percent penalty. So that's a
chunk of money. So those are some of the restrictions
that apply with a five to twenty nine plan. And
(11:30):
you've got financial people that are saying, you know, it's
not all that good.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know what, it may not be quote all that good.
It's one thousand dollars, the government is getting a kid.
How do you argue that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And even if it doesn't kickstart everybody, let's say it
kickstarts a percentage a small percentage, it's still a small percentage.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Who otherwise would not do this?
Speaker 1 (11:52):
On top of that, Michael Dell, who is I don't know,
the fourth fifth wealthiest man in the world at this point,
Dell Computers. He and his wife just donated six billion
dollars towards that fund. I mean, that's no small amount
of money. So this is one of those things where
(12:15):
you know, would I have done it that way?
Speaker 3 (12:17):
No?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Would I have thrown some tax advantages like five twenty
nine plans? Yeah, I probably would do that, But that's me,
And you know, do you Does anybody listen to me? No?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Would anybody follow my advice? No? Because what would I do?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I would give you no tax advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If the government put in one thousand dollars, I would
take it away and spend it on something else.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
But this ain't bad.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
By the way, No one can contribute to the account
until July of twenty twenty six. Parents and others can
contribute up to five thousand dollars a year into the
account until the child turns eighteen, so.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
There is a limit. Where there is not a limit
to the five to twenty nine plan.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I believe an employer can contribute up to twenty five
hundred dollars towards that twenty five five thousand dollars cap.
You know, we don't know where it's going to go,
We don't know how successful it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
We don't know if it makes any sense or not.
But I'll tell you what we do know. It's one thousand.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Dollars that the kids are going to have that they
don't have now.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And how do you argue with that? You don't?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Now, let me tell you about what's going on in Israel.
Wanted to share this with you because, well, first of all,
you know, obviously I'm biased, and I am my wheelhouse,
and I have friends who are in Israel, both having
served in the service, will actually all of them serve
in the service, because it's a mandatory for Israeli men,
(13:52):
it's mandatory for everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There is conscription across the board.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Every man and woman in Israel is mandated to go
into the armed forces when they're eighteen years old. Three
years for men, two years for women except the ultra
Orthodox men the hot idea and by law they don't
(14:19):
have to go into the military service. But wait a minute,
why does everybody else go in and because you're religious,
you can't be drafted, that's right. This exemption was created
for the ultra Orthodox students and ultra Orthodox men in
(14:41):
nineteen forty eight when the state of Israel was declared
a few hundred we're part of the Orthodox families, if
you will, just a few hundred. Today it's fourteen percent
of Israel and it's growing like crazy. And why is
that well, because non Orthodox Jews in Israel have the
(15:05):
same problem with any other industrialized country where the population
is declining. The demographics are declining, except in places where
you have fundamentalists in certain name of any religious here,
any religion here, where the concept of go forth and
multiply they take very seriously. If you look at any
(15:25):
any Jewish religion. Part of it is they stoopfest that
you go. You get late as often as you can,
you get pregnant as often as you can, and you
have kids. So the ultra Orthodox, while the rest of Israel,
it's like much of the rest of the industrialized world,
two kids, one point five, one point eight and population
(15:47):
is actually declining, the ultra Orthodox are having five kids,
seven kids, as many kids as they humanly can have,
and that creates obviously a bigger ultra or Orthodox population.
And here is the part that is really pissing off
Israelis and more and more is the ultra Orthodox Jews
(16:09):
argue that for them, sitting and praying and studying Torah
all day long is as important in defending Israel as
the soldiers are. In other words, they tell the soldiers,
you go to war, you man the tanks, you're an
artillery artillery, and we're.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Going to pray and not going in the army.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And that's as important as anything you do, because if
you don't have us, we don't have an army. There is,
though Israel that exists. Well, there's been this war going
on for a while. There's been several wars, the six
sixty seven war, the seventy three war, a couple of
incursions where Israelis have died and in numbers. And that
(16:54):
argument is not flying. You know twenty years ago where
the Supreme Court of Israel said you the exemption is
no longer valid, and there's been exception after exception. Why
are they so powerful Because the political parties in Israel,
and there are many, they in order for a government
(17:15):
to actually be established, a prime minister or a putative
prime minister has to cobble together these various parties, and
it always takes two or three parties, and sometimes are
left wing with the.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Right wing, and this small.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Group of these religious us, the ultra orthodox, they are
a single party. There are enough of them who vote
that they have huge power because they don't care about
anything other than their religious position.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That's all they care about.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And if that's all you care about, guess what they say, Okay,
if you want our vote, this is what you have
to do.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And they get what what.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
They mandate, and they get a government that says, okay,
you don't have to be in the army. We're going
to exempt you if you're a full time student. And
by the way, they're not studying mathematics, they're not scientists,
they're not studying anything that actually, in my opinion, helps society.
(18:21):
They're sitting and and they're what they're doing. They're studying
the Tumud, they're studying the Five Books of Moses, They're
studying the Old Testament is what they're studying. And they
spend hours and hours and hours every day and they
actually argue the finest points of what the tour is,
(18:41):
what the Bible is about that to them is as
important as the Israeli Army defending Israel their position without us,
there is no Israel without us. The army cannot succeed
because we are as in play. And let me tell
you there's some pissed off people.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
On that one.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
How angry would you be if we add a conscription
which we used to until the Nixon years, and if
you just declared I'm religious and my religion should be exempted,
not conscientious objector, which was a different issue, but just
you exempt an entire religion.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, it's a tough way to go.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It is even to the point now where there is
conscription and you've got the police going after people who
are draft dodgers, the protests explode. And if you think
we have protests, if you think our protests, for example,
the Black Lives Matter protests or the Me Too movement
and all those protests nothing compared to what is going
(19:47):
on in Israel. So I just wanted to share that
with you. And they also dress weird too, just to
let you know. And they have, you know, the payis
the ringlets and everybody has a beard, I mean everybody,
the women, the kids, you know, the five year olds
walking around with beards and you just you can see them.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
You know, they're very easy to quite. The site. It
really is women, the children.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, everybody, yes, yes, everybody, everybody, all right.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Study just came out.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
This is a twenty twenty five Planning in Progress study
that was updated in November, and it draws on a
Harris pol And. Bottom line is thirty six percent of
American millionaires consider themselves wealthy. A third of people who
are millionaires consider themselves wealthy.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Even the wealthiest Americans worry about money.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
According to the study, they fret about having enough, deciding
how to spend it, whether to pass it on to airs.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
How much money does it really take to feel wealthy?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Well, I'll tell you my definition of wealth, and I
think it's a pretty good one.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
When are you wealthy?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
You are wealthy when you can literally stop working today,
wake up tomorrow morning and live the same lifestyle that
you have always lived, live the same lifestyle. I don't
care if it's thirty thousand dollars a year, three hundred
thousand dollars a year, That to me is wealthy and
I feel rich. And you don't want to know why
(21:20):
I feel rich because I only hang around No, it's
because I hang around poor people, and that will make
anybody feel rich.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My immediate group is poor. That really helps me feeling rich.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Do you know why I feel great integrity and kindness
because I only hang around jerks.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
There you go, it does with kindness. Yes, I mean
that that does work.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And so a million dollars right, Although a million dollars
net worth means nothing in southern California, especially when you
have a nine hundred thousand dollars house, I mean, it's insane.
In West Virginia. Million dollars is money. In Kansas, that's money.
Los Angeles, New York, it's not money. And the other
thing is millionaires who hang out with other millionaires. You
(22:14):
compare because there's always someone that has more money than you,
unless you're bezos, bezos or your musk. The bottom line
is there's always someone has more money than you, and
therefore you compare, and therefore you're not as wealthy. The
liz Win Ditch to certified financial planner in denvers that
(22:34):
all of my clients who are millionaires don't consider themselves wealthy.
Not buy a long shot, And that's actually true. I
think you know.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Am I worth north of a million dollars? I am.
Do I consider myself rich?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I do not. I do not, And I think a
lot of other people who have money packed away, stocked away,
especially if you're looking at retirement funds, which I started
really pumping into them when I was in my mid thirties,
I don't. I literally don't feel rich. And that's not
just a joke either. I mean there, I don't know
where that number is to feel rich. Well, let me
(23:12):
ask right now, Neil, where is that number that you
are worth that makes you feel rich?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I like your definition. I think your definition is spot on.
When you feel you can keep you know, the lifestyle
you enjoy. I don't need to own a plane. I
don't need to. We live a very modest life. But
if I could can, if I could do this and
not work every day in the same way, yeah, I
would feel.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Like you're rich. Amy, was it? What does it take
for you to feel rich? He who has friends is rich?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Oh? Stop, but I'm going to vomit. That's vomitous. Okay,
you're off the table. Will let me throw it at you.
I know he's looking at Will. What does it take
you to feel rich. Lots of traffic, lots of traffic jams.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, okay. How much money do you have to have
in the bank in order to feel rich? To feel rich,
I will feel rich.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah. If I had one hundred grand in the bank,
I would feel rich.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Very well said, that's a very good note to prove
positive you work at iHeart and I can't see an
on the minor because we're having some zoom problems, and
yes they're okay.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
How much money do you need the bank to feel rich?
In your opinion, I would say the same thing like
being able to pay all my bills okay, comfortably, okay,
travel Okay, then you feel rich. That's fair. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I think that everybody feels the same way. Kono, Well,
you'll never feel rich. How much money does it take
for you to feel.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Rich when you don't have to look at your bank
account When you say okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Okay, that's fair, that's a great that's when you're not
looking at budgeting, you're not looking at bank accounts. And
the more modestly you live, obviously, the easier it is,
because what ends up happening. People make a pile of
money all of a sudden starts spending like they make
a pile of money. And if that ends or that
(25:10):
doesn't keep on going all of a sudden, Yeah, and
most of us, most of us are going to have
to change our lifestyles when we retire. It's really hard
to reach what Neil and I have said, and what
Ab has said, and even what Kono has said, and
that is continuing on with our lifestyle as if we're
(25:31):
making the same amount of money and that takes a
pile of money to have in the bank too.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I thought it was a really neat poll and it
says a lot about Americans and how we feel about money.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
All right, KFI am sixty. You've been listening to the
Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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